Authors

Alan M. Taylor

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2019-20 | September 1, 2019

Interest rates in major advanced economies have drifted down and in greater unison over the past few decades. A country’s rate of interest can be thought of as reflecting movements in the global neutral rate of interest, the domestic neutral rate, and the stance of monetary policy. Only the latter is controlled by the central bank. Estimates from a state space New Keynesian model show that central bank policy explains less than half of the variation in interest rates. The rest of the time, the central bank is catching up to trends dictated by productivity growth, demography, and other factors outside of its control.

Article Citation

Taylor, Alan M., and Oscar Jorda. 2019. “Riders on the Storm,” Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Working Paper 2019-20. Available at https://doi.org/10.24148/wp2019-20

About the Author
Òscar Jordà
Òscar Jordà is a senior policy advisor in the Economic Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Learn more about Òscar Jordà